Long Live
by ATightropeToTheWords
Summary: After the battle with Apophis, Zia sees Carter in a whole new light. Will friendship blossom into something more? Songfic to Taylor Swift's Long Live. Review, please!


**Hi! This is a fanfiction of Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles. I do not own any of the characters from TKC. Seriously, if I were Rick Riordan, I wouldn't be writing fan fictions, I would be writing books! Also, this is a songfic to Taylor Swift's Long Live from her album Speak Now. I do not own the lyrics to her song. Jeez, I don't own anything, do I...? Enjoy the story!**

_I still remember this moment  
>In the back of my mind.<br>The time we stood with our shaking hands  
>The crowds in stands went wild<em>

Zia was happy, to say the least. Actually, happy didn't begin to describe how exuberant she was. They had won the battle with Apophis.

The House of Life, the ones who had agreed to fight at least, stood in the Palace of the Gods for the first time ever. She stood beside Amos Kane, at the very front of them all. To their left were the trainees of the 21st Nome. Sadie and Carter (Sadie dressing up for the occasion with bright green streaks in her blond hair and a new pair of combat boots) stood at the front of their army of Blood of the Pharaohs.

The Gods, hundreds of them, stood before them. Lord Ra sat on his throne, making his grand speech. He had been restored from his senile state by a powerful spell Walt Stone had helped Zia perform. All of the gods gazed at their king with respect and awe.

And Carter... Carter looked amazing. He was grinning like a fool, occasionally looking back over their soldiers, their young magicians, to beam some more and whisper to them how proud he was. His face and legs were covered in scratches and bruises and a jagged, painful-looking gash adorned his left arm, but he showed no care for himself, just his soldiers. Like a real leader.

_We are the kings and the queens  
>And they read off our names<br>The night you danced like you knew our lives would never be the same_

Ra began to read off the names of those who had fought in the war, lamenting the dead and praising those who survived. Zia saw Carter's head hang a little and the smile drop off his face whenever one of those who had died was mentioned. The hardest loss for them all had been a young boy, no older than Sadie, named James, who had become quite close with Carter during the three weeks prior to the battle.

Finally, the speeches were done and Lord Ra announced for the celebration to begin. Classic Egyptian music began to play, the music they always played at celebrations, which Sadie whined loudly at, but made Carter seem to regain his smile.

_You held your head like a hero  
>On a history book page<br>It was the end of a decade  
>But the start of an age<em>

He looked... Regal. Like a hero straight out of a history book. He walked among gods and the House of Life alike, congratulating and thanking everybody. Out of the corner of her eyes, Zia saw Anubis make his way through the crowd, his eyes set on Sadie, and Set dancing like he was at a disco, in his ridiculous red costume, which made her laugh out loud.

"What's so funny, Zia?" a familiar voice asked. Zia spun around and found herself a foot from Carter. He was smiling at her like he was at everyone else, but she thought she saw something else in his eyes. Hope?

"Look at Set," she said, her hand over her mouth to hold in the laughter. He laughed with her for a minute before they regained their composure. Then, he extended a hand and asked, quite politely:

"Would you like to dance?" She simply nodded, afraid to speak and say the wrong thing.

"You know, Zia," he said as they began to dance a waltz, which might have been out of place in the setting, but felt right "This is the end of decades and centuries and millennia of fighting to keep chaos at bay."

"And the beginning of an age of peace," she countered. He smiled again. She found herself staring at his smile, wondering why it suddenly seemed so beautiful to her.

_Long Live the walls we crashed through  
>All the kingdom lights shined<br>Just for me and you  
>I was screaming, "Long live all the magic we made<br>And bring on all the pretenders  
>One day, we will be remembered,"<em>

But she knew why it was now so perfect when just days before it had been awkward and goofy. Because she had seen him fight, seen him bravely risk his life for everybody, for the world. Not many 14-year-olds would be willing to do that. Zia suddenly saw Carter in a whole new light.

They danced in companionable silence for a bit, and it seemed to her that the light shined brighter every second. Like it was shining just for them.

The song ended and they stood towards the west wall of the room. He leaned against the wall, seemingly tired. She stood there awkwardly beside him. Finally, she said in a voice barely above a whisper "Do you think they'll remember us?"

"Who?"

"The world. Do you think that we'll go down in history? Or will we be forgotten in another couple hundred years?"

"I can't tell the future, Zia. That's Sadie's job." She laughed a little at this. "But I think that we'll be remembered. The world is full of people who do things just so they look good. But I think we'll always be remembered as heroes."

_I said remember this moment  
>I passed the pictures around<br>Of all the times we stood there on the sidelines wishing for right now  
>We are the kings and the queens<br>You traded your baseball cap for a crown  
>When they gave us our trophies<br>And we held them up for our town.  
><em>  
>It was a month after the celebration of the defeating if Apophis. Zia had grown more distant from everybody, spending more time in her room at Brooklyn House and outside. Carter was growing worried.<p>

One day, he knocked on her bedroom door. After a moment or two, Zia opened the door. She looked as dignified as always... Except for the tears streaming from her bloodshot eyes.

"Zia? Are you hurt? What's wrong?" he panicked. She snorted through her tears and turned away, plopping down on her bed. He then saw the picture she clutched in her hand. He sighed.

"I can't remember anything, Carter," she whispered, looking away from him. "No matter how hard I try."

"Yes you can, Zia," he argued. She frowned in confusion. "You can remember that you have friends and a family here. And that even though you don't have your parents or your memories, you still have us all. And I will help you regain your memory. I've been researching some potions and spells, and I think there might be a few goddesses who could help us." He said it all in such a babble that she strained her ears to hear him. But she did. He locked his earnest eyes with her own amber ones.

_And the cynics were outraged  
>Screaming "This is absurd,"<br>Cause for a moment a band of thieves  
>In ripped up jeans got to rule the world<em>

"I don't think that is possible, Carter. I don't want to get my hopes up," she mumbled. He put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed.

"But you're forgetting, Zia. Impossible is the Kanes' specialty." She smiled at that. It was quite true. The Kanes did many impossible things. Like making her fall in love.

Over the next few weeks, Zia and Carter grew extremely close. They spent their free time in the library, researching spells and such. Sometimes, they grew lazy in their work and just hung out, learning about one another.

They became best friends, though they never did find a way to restore Zia's memory. But she got over it. Because she had a new family, with or without her memories. And she had Carter.

One day, five years later, she and Carter were sitting on the couch in the Great Room, watching some blonde woman perform a music video and not really paying attention to the lyrics.

But Zia found that they set her thinking. Without realizing it, she was humming along.

"Hold on to spinning around, confetti falls to the ground, may these memories break our fall... If we take a moment, promise me this: that you'll stand by me forever, but if God forbid fate should step in and force us into a goodbye, if you have children some day  
>when they point to the pictures... Please tell them my name. Tell them how the crowds, went wild. Tell them how our hope, it shined."<p>

"Carter?" Zia asked hesitantly. He turned to her.

"Yeah?"

"If you have kids someday... Tell them about me. Please. Tell them about how we defeated Chaos. And tell them how we're good friends. And tell them that... I love you."

"I won't have to. I hope I'll let their mother tell them themselves." And with that, he leaned over and kissed her.

That same song, Long Live, played at their wedding, a year later.

_Long live the walls we crashed through  
>All the kingdom lights shined<br>Just for me and you  
>I was screaming long live all the magic we made<br>And bring on all the pretenders  
>One day, we will be remembered.<em>


End file.
